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Friday, July 17, 2015

Standby (2014)

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This is a movie that goes over the territory of ‘what if’ in a romantic comedy.  The classic story of a romantic misstep that results in regret; ‘the one that got away’, so to speak.  In this particular film it is not a one sided mistake.  Neither party correctly assessed the long term trajectory of their individual love lives that would make them both want to go back to their time together and to do a do over. 

The couple has a chance meeting years later and spend a night in each other’s company.  He is in a nadir, working at an information booth at the Dublin airport, living with his father, and with no real prospects for improving his lot in life.  She is en route home to her fiancé, having just heard very bad news about her prospects as a children’s book illustrator.  So one of them is chronically under loved and one is acutely under loved.

The power of shared experiences and the emotion that they evoke when you go with the flow is the take home message.  In a risk avoidant environment, where hesitancy to commit is the norm rather than the exception, and this is the cautionary tale on that point.  Sometimes you can miss the chance to be happy in love.  It is possible that one night doesn’t reflect the future, but the ability to make each other laugh is not to be discounted.

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